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Good hunch, I think. It will be something to watch for this weekend. But I thought there were at least 2 illegal picks used by SD that should have drawn flags.

Nate Silver is a good statistician. He's the guy who correctly picked the winner in all 50 states in the 2012 presidential election (after Romney's folks had some disparaging remarks about his methodology). Silver had previously gone 49 for 50 in 2008. I'm not sure how successful he's been in his football work. But if he's picking the Bills over the Texans, I'm with him. According to Silver's Elo ratings, we have a 34% chance of making the playoffs.

Kemp? Didn't we win mostly with defense in those days? Mike Stratton's hit-heard-'round-the-world and all that?

It was a little more complicated than that! Sometimes on 3rd and long it was OJ draw!

Bill Walsh was wrong about Trent Edwards. Ron Jaworski has been wrong about lots of QBs. So has Mel Kiper. Even the people who know pro football far better than us are often wrong about the future success of young QBs. I think the problem is no college QB is NFL ready. They all need to learn and improve. And it's hard to say who will improve and who won't. Or how fast they'll improve. Jim Plunkett didn't become a good NFL QB until his 30s. And, yes, some QBs do improve their accuracy, their decision making, their poise, etc. EJ has no flaw that some other QB didn't once also possess - and then fix. I'm not predicting success for EJ. I'm not predicting failure. But I do hope for success, and hope that success comes faster than Plunkett's.

Joe Ferguson. In 1975, the Bills scored 30 points per game. They led the league that year in both yards and points scored. In fact, I believe it was the most points scored by any NFL team in the 1970s. OJ and Braxton racked up nearly 3000 yards rushing in a 14 game season. Fergy was efficient throwing the ball - tying Fran Tarkenton for the NFL lead with 25 TD tosses. The Bills were an unstoppable offensive powerhouse that year. Too bad the defensive secondary was as porous as colander. I believe Fergy called the plays that year but couldn't guarantee it. Maybe a Bills old-timer or NFL historian can correct me. If it wasn't Fergy then probably Head Coach Lou Saban was calling plays or OL Coach Jim Ringo.

This might be contagious. I suffer from the same malady.

It's cool to receive some good press. But this is hilarious. With GM changes, coaching changes, free agency, trades, career-ending injuries, and drafts, it's impossible to look five years out with any accuracy. But let's hope five years from now this author looks prophetic - at least regarding the Bills.

Since their inception, I think the Bills have won something like 46% of their games. So, personally, while acknowledging it's a long season, I'm happy to celebrate a 67% winning percentage.

+1 However we may want to dissect different plays, I think FireChan is on target (though I'm not sure how you perform surgery on rockets). EJ isn't good yet. I hope he becomes good. I think he may. But he wasn't good in the winds of the Ralph against SD. Kelly was challenged in those same winds and tended to put up good numbers anyway. Not always, but often. EJ needs to learn. Eventually, some posters here on TBD will say they were right about EJ and some will have to admit they were wrong. I think it's all random luck. None of us know with any certainty how much EJ will improve over time. I'm not sure the coaches who work with him every day can answer that question yet. I think we all need to watch, wait and see. The only reasonable argument is how long we wait before handing the offense over to Orton or someone else. But anyone arguing that EJ is going to be great is suffering from Wishful Thinking. Anyone arguing that EJ will never be great is suffering from Eternal Pessimism. As fans, we always have opinions but certainly no one yet knows.

The first time I heard of "Buffalo Wings" is when I went away to college. My college friends were giving me crap about Buffalo, saying the city had nothing to offer. Then one kid said there was ONE thing good from Buffalo: Buffalo Wings. At that time (1977), no one knew what he was talking about - including me.

We don't need stats to see that Hackett is bringing EJ along slowly. It's obvious watching the games. The questions is: is it the right strategy? When you don't throw down the field, it allows the defense to load the box. Obviously, it becomes harder to run the ball. But because opponents don't worry so much about defending the whole field, it becomes harder to pass the ball, too. I wonder if EJ would be more successful if he threw down field more often. Clearly there are advantages to attacking the entire field of play. Then again, we're 2-1 and tied with the Pats for 1st place in the AFCE. Maybe Marrone's and Hackett's conservatism has some merit.

Bills rebound. Bills 27, Texans 10.

Would we feel differently if the season unfolded differently? How would we feel if we lost against SD in the first game in the season? But we won the next two games - against the Fins and Bears? Would we all be more optimistic right now? I know it's the most recent game, but is the SD loss really more representative and predictive than the two wins?

Because: (1) Hackett has no idea how to draw up plays for a scatback like CJ. In his last year with Chan, CJ ran for over 1,000 yards at 6.0 yards per carry. He'll never equal those numbers with Hackett as OC. This year's he's only averaging 4.0 ypc - a drop of 2.0 yards per carry. (2) Our O Line doesn't create holes. They're not bad in pass protection but they suck in run blocking.

It would have been nice if the refs through a flag for this at least once.

You're right. But... While I'm not solidly in the sky-is-falling camp, what bugs about yesterday's loss is how bad we looked. Our Pass D had problems. Our entire O had problems. And we were undisciplined, committing 100+ yards of infractions which kept SD drives alive and ruined the rhythm of our offense. In sum, we didn't look like a 2-1 team. Hopefully yesterday isn't a harbinger of what's to come. But right now we're tied with the Pats for first place. Our record is the same as the SB Champions. The skies ought to be sunny today.

Rivers who was clearly the better QB yesterday didn't become a good QB until his 5th year in the NFL. http://www.nfl.com/player/philiprivers/2506121/careerstats I don't think Orton is a bad QB. But he needs more time to learn the offense and EJ needs more of a chance. With a 90.8 QB rating, he's hardly been putrid. We're 2-1. EJ played a contributing role in those 2 wins and he also played a role in the loss. He was neither the primary reason we won 2 games nor the primary reason we lost to SD.

True enough. But as a reminder, Rivers didn't even start until his third year in the NFL. He didn't become a good starter until his 5th year. EJ's rating is 90.8. Rivers' rating his 1st year starting (3rd year in the league) was 92. Rivers' rating his 2nd year starting was 82. Then things finally clicked. His rating has been over 100 five of the next 7 years. Personally, I'm going to be patient in my judgement of EJ. http://www.nfl.com/player/philiprivers/2506121/careerstats

It's a bad loss because we looked so bad doing it. Our Pass D looked weak. Our entire offense looked weak. And we were undisciplined - being flagged for over 100 yards in infractions yet again. If it was a hard-fought loss in OT, we could still feel good being 2-1. But today we didn't look like a 2-1 team, nor did we look like a team that would compete in the AFCE. Let's hope we look like a different team next week.

And blitz more so our DBs don't have to be locked on for so long.

EJ was bad but he wasn't god awful horrible. Statistically he completed 59% of his passes for 6.1 yards per attempt. This was a team loss. I don't think Schwartz had a great game plan Our secondary certainly could have played better. I don't think Hackett knows how to draw up running plays that create space for CJ. I think the O Line was bad. And I think the penalties destroyed offensive momentum and kept SD drives alive. EJ's play was subpar but there's a lot of blame to go around. I don't think we would have won if Orton was in the game and I don't think Orton should start the next game.

Evans was a classy, loyal player. And a great deep threat whose stats were hurt - as has been noted - by bad QB-ing. I'd cheer loudly if I could be there.

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We'll have a better understanding how good Schwartz is as a DC after this game. So far the Bills are limiting their opponents to 15 points per game. Shutting down the Chargers, though, will be a bigger challenge than shutting down the Phins. It will be fun to watch.